The Secret World of Lucina
by galio
Summary: Brady is in what he supposes to be his deathbed, and all he wants is a little peace and quiet so he can pick a nice spot for his grave. His caretaker is insane, and is obsessed with finding 'the little people' who live in the house somewhere. Unfortunately it is Brady of all people who believes it when he meets Lucina, one of the tiny Borrowers living under Ma's floorboards.


"We're almost there," Maribelle assured him gently, as their little convertible turned into an urban back alley. Brady watched the houses disappear as more and more trees surrounded them, and they rolled down a little dirt road just big enough to drive one way. "Are you feeling alright, dear?"

"Yes, Ma," Brady answered, though his attention didn't peel from the window. The car entered a gated stone wall, and he saw the family name etched into an old iron plate. His family's wealth wasn't particularly outstanding, but it was enough to own a decent plot of land, and live comfortably by. It went back only a few generations, when his great-grandfather made some pretty big overseas investments. Something like that.

The car slowed to a stop.

"Oh, how many times must he be reminded?" she huffed. She climbed out of the vehicle. "I'll be only a minute, my dear."

Brady didn't respond. He watched her inch around their butler's car, which was helpfully blocking the road, and leaned back into his seat. A long sigh escaped him. There was no going back now.

His eyes turned to the window again. There was a little kissing gate to his right, seemingly held up only by the tomato vines growing around it. Beyond it, a grassy, flowery knoll overlooking a clear-water pond. He thought he could even hear a stream running into it.

He opened the door and peered up, noticing the tallness of the trees and the pleasant breeze dancing through them. Even the smell of this place was peaceful. Brady approached the kissing gate and beheld his first glimpse of the house. It was cozy and modest, and truthfully appeared to be more of a cottage than an estate. It was certainly old, but well-kept, and for a moment Brady doubted this place was actually owned by his family. Until recently, he'd lived in the city with his father. The apartment was nice- modern, but it felt too small and too cramped. It was especially so when his dad was working dawn to dusk, and the place was not only stuffy, but lonely as well.

This place appeared to be everything the apartment wasn't. He crossed the threshold, taken by its beauty. There was a white cat sitting near a cosmos bush, focused on something he supposed was inside of it. Just as it might pounce, a large, black crow landed nearby, and the cat sprung into the air in surprise. It hissed, swiping a few curled claws at it before the winged rat hopped away. The cat growled in irritation, taking one last look into the cosmos bush before moving on.

Brady hated cats.

The car blocking the road was being relocated. He thought he might go look inside of the house now, but a sound from the bush gave him pause. There was movement inside of it, perhaps a small animal the cat was stalking. It was a little blue thing, sliding down the stems like a fireman's pole, collecting a pair of petals on the way. It landed on its feet, then ran into the grass, on two legs. Like a person. Brady's head suddenly hurt.

"Brady! Won't you come meet Henry?" Maribelle called from inside the house.

"Y-yeah, be right there," he called back. He watched the cosmos bush a moment longer, but the thing seemed to have been long gone now. He shut his eyes, pushing the image from his mind. With all the things wrong with him now, did he need to add 'crazy' to that list? Brady turned, stuffing his hands into his pockets as he quickly fled the garden.

-x-x-x-

Lucina ran, clinging tightly to her prize as she returned to the grate she'd emerged from. A rumble from behind alerted her that the cat had returned, and she jumped onto the ledge just as it crashed into a flower pot. The big, fuzzy predator was always trying to catch her, but it wasn't very good at it. She graced it with a smug laugh as she retreated into the safety of the grate. The cat had pressed its face into it, arm flailing hopelessly through the bars in attempt to reach her.

"Gotta try harder than that, kitty cat," she laughed, waving it a good-bye as she continued into the tunnel. She lived under the floorboards with her family, where they'd made their home out of what would otherwise appear to be a big pile of rubble. It was a quiet existence. They lived in secret, and the Human Beans up above were none the wiser of their tenants. It was the only way they could survive, really. Borrowers such as themselves were very small, and they knew it.

Human Beans were dangerous, but useful. It was perfectly possible to co-exist with them so long as one controlled what they "borrowed". They only took things the Beans wouldn't miss- a nail here, some bread scraps there. Usually it was her father, Chrom, collecting things the family needed. Soon, however, that would all be changing.

She raced into her home, skipping the steps two at a time, and turned down the hall. There was a little window opening into her room, and she stuffed the flowers inside, climbing in after it. It was a meaningless attempt at being sneaky- her mother was waiting in the door.

"Lucina, what happened to your room?" she pried, in that dangerous tone she often employed with her children. Robin was also a Borrower- it was how she'd met her father. She was frighteningly good at it, too, but after having kids, she'd settled in to stay at home and protect them. Despite this, Lucina was pleasantly unafraid of her mother's capable wrath. She smiled, sitting back into a pincushion. The room in question was filled with an assortment of different floras, from wheat grass to even blueberries.

"It's just like a garden, don't you think?"

"If you ask me, it looks like a jungle. You were out in the garden again, weren't-" Robin answered critically, but her tone flipped on its belly as she spotted the new additions. "Are those bay leaves?"

"Welllll, yes, but I was going to wait for your birthday…" Lucina collected the leaves, filling her mother's arms as she slipped past her into the doorway, "… but, Happy Birthday!" Herbs were Robin's absolute weakness. Her mother was fairly tall, with gaunt features and a stern face framed by long black locks. She could be scary when she wanted to, but Lucina knew the path to her heart was through her teas.

"You just dodged a needle," her little brother hissed. He was listening in, as usual. "Mom was going to ground you." Morgan took after their mother, but he was unlike her in about every other way. Her brother wasn't very tall yet, although for his credit he was still only ten. He was also uninterested in the Beans, and would rather spend his time at home sewing tissues with his auntie Lissa.

"Tonight's my first Borrowing, Morgan," Lucina reminded him.

"Maybe that's why," he grumbled back. The door at the other end of the house creaked open, and before Chrom so much as closed it again, Lucina was already helping him put away his gear.

"Father, I made it to the bay tree today," she reported. Chrom 'mhm'd as he listened. She had a special relationship with him. Unlike her mother, he was eager to teach his daughter survival skills, and had taken her out to the garden when she was young to show her how to employ them. "I used the leaves over my head, just like you said. No birds, no cats! Nothing saw me. So, if there's any doubt about tonight-!"

"There was a new Bean in the house today," Chrom interrupted, ceasing her prattling.

"Yes, I know… I saw him," she muttered back. Her mother's sharp ears caught it all the way from the kitchen.

"_Busted!_" Morgan crowed. Robin was next to her in an instant.

"Lucina, what did I tell you about-?!"

"Mom, he didn't see me!" she said, "And, he's so much smaller than the other Beans… and- oh father please you have to let me come with you tonight!" Lucina begged. Chrom eyed her intently, but said nothing as aunt Lissa peered in from the kitchen.

"Tea's ready!" she announced. Lissa had a way of breaking up awkward moments. Robin was unmoved as she glared at her daughter. She followed her parents into the kitchen, where the cheerful aunt Lissa poured them all droplets of the tea she had just brewed. Lissa was an oddball. She wasn't at all daunted by the fact that they literally lived under the feet of giants, and had once or twice attempted to trail her brother on a Borrowing mission in which she nearly gave them away both times. The experiences did not, however, seem to teach her anything about subtlety. She was frequently discouraged from venturing far from the house.

"Lucina, we don't know anything about this new Bean. I don't want you going out there and instigating suspicion, or worse, ending up in his hands," Robin told her sternly from the table. Lucina could see her father casting his eyes downward. Robin had put it lightly, but they all knew what she spoke of. Her other aunt, Emmeryn, was found by a Human Bean some years ago. She was ill-prepared for Borrowing, and the whole night had ended in tragedy. They didn't like to talk about it much, and Lucina absolutely hated it when her mother played that card. It was unfair.

"He can't be worse than Henry," she argued, though she knew herbs were not going to win her this one. She threw a pleading look to Chrom. "Father, please, I've seen him. He's just a kid."

"The kids are worse than the adults," Robin sneered.

"I'll be fine," she shot back.

Chrom's sigh silenced them both.

"The kids do go to bed early," he said. Lucina could hardly contain her excitement, much to Robin's chagrin.

"Chrom!" Robin hissed to her husband.

"Don't worry Mom, I'll make sure he gets home in one piece!" she added, playing on her small victory. It was not often she got the one-up on her mother. After the door shut, there was a tense quiet as Robin glared daggers at her husband.

"If you like, I could tag along to keep an eye on-,"

"NO!" they both cried. Lissa seemed disappointed.

"Robin, the boy is indeed small, like Lucina said. He is frail and sickly. He will be harmless. Lucina will be fine. She will be sixteen soon, and it's time she learned to take care of herself. Just in case we…" Chrom trailed off. He didn't need to finish. Robin visibly backed down. She settled in her chair, eying her tea which she hadn't yet touched. If there was anyone who could bring out her old self, it was Chrom. The father in him spoke to the mother in her, and she knew at that moment he was right.

"I worry we are the last of the Borrowers," she said quietly, speaking to the empty cup of sugar. It was a thought that everyone shared, but to Robin it was the entire reason she kept her children so close. She was terrified of losing either of them. What would become of them in the end? It always kept her up at night.

-x-x-x-

"Remember what the doctor said, Brady. Your heart can't take so much strain, so nothing overly exciting, understood?" The question was clearly aimed at Henry, but he shrugged anyway. Brady knew better than anyone how sick he really was. "Keep him comfortable and _safe,_ please, Henry," she added, as if she noted her need to clarify her meaning. Henry was making a valiant effort not to pout.

"Yes, ma'am," he acknowledged. Maribelle was content with the answer. Brady personally could not wrap his mind around how she'd come to hire this nutcase. Henry was constantly making inappropriate comments, was disturbingly cheerful, and had a weird fascination with birds. His mother caught him trying to summon some kind of raven god in a pot of stew once. The stew was awful, but he guessed it was not only because he'd put six raw tail-feathers into it. He didn't think Henry was a very good cook to begin with.

"Right, then- Brady dearest, Henry is here to help you. I don't want you over-exerting yourself, so if you need anything at all, please ask him," she instructed, buttoning up her overcoat. His family had a lot of money, but his mother still had to work in order to make things run smoothly- especially with her son now in her care. She worked at the hospital overnight, which meant that when she wasn't away at work she was probably asleep for most of the day. It was almost Dad's all over again, except now his only company was some stupid cat, his insane caretaker, and the imaginary little person in the garden. Would he end up like Henry, living here? He prayed he wouldn't.

Maribelle planted a kiss on his forehead before exiting his bedroom. Brady and Henry watched as her headlights disappeared down the dirt road, and all was quiet again- until Henry opened his mouth.

"You heard the boss! Nothing exciting, so I won't go showing you my little project just yet, or your heart might just _explode_ right out of your chest! Don't worry, though, if it does; I know a trick to get it all back in you."

Brady didn't even want to ask.

He allowed Henry to shut the window, after he claimed the crows might like to fly in during the night during his experiments. He shut off the lights and finally left him in peace. Brady hurried to the door and locked it after him. When he returned to his bed, he gazed out the window into the garden. The moon was quite bright, and he couldn't help but admire how beautiful this place was. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad living his remaining days here. Brady honestly didn't think it would be so bad if he _did_ keep hallucinating. He was dying, anyway, unlike his batty caretaker. What would it matter if he believed in a few fairies? Screw that guy.


End file.
